Through a lot of hard work and dedication the Boston Pizza sponsored Kincardine AE Atom Kinucks have reached the finals of all three tournaments that they've entered, to date. Under the leadership of Headcoach Pete McDonald, the team have stepped up for extra games and practices which has ultimately resulted in improved on-ice performances.
Having watched these young Kinucks for a number of weeks now, its a strong work ethic that seems to be the key to the Kinucks success.
Edged out in the Tillsonburg Tournament final, the young Kinucks took their lessons and applied them to the Chris Knott Tournament, in Port Elgin, where they would run out as tournament champions.
The following week was a trip up to Collingwood for the Regional Silverstick. It's fair to say that nothing was expected from these Kinucks, since the previous seasons AE Teams had represented in this tournament in recent years, coming away with nothing against the larger BB centers.
However, this wouldn't prove to be the case for this years team as they worked their way through to the finals conceding only 2 goals in the entire tournament! The semi-final saw them match up against local rivals, Saugeen Shores Storm, collecting a well earned 3-0 win. The fact it was against their rivals made it that little bit sweeter for the kids!
The final saw them match up against Collingwood's formidable Silverstick record. Unfortunately the Kinucks never really recovered from a strong Collingwood start, putting them 3-0 ahead. It's fair to say that they were 3 well taken goals by the Collingwood team, but they would just hang onto it for the remainder of the game. The Kinucks had Collingwood unde pressure for the remainder of the game, but just couldn't do enough to claw it back, as the oppositions goalie would claim their MVP award. A great effort, but the result would end up 3-1. Oh, what might have been, for a team that little was expected of, going into the tournament.